Rudra Narayan Sahoo

Rudra Narayan Sahoo

Junior Research Fellow (JRF) in Dr. Senjuti Sinharoy's Lab at National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR)

Publications

Venerated and medicinal aspects of plants used in India: An ethnobotanical review Permalink

Published in Journal of Drug Research in Ayurvedic Sciences, 2022

Plants have always been the backbone of the entire ecosystem of life. Humans depend upon plants not only for fulfilling their basic needs but also for spiritual activities. Their significance has been attributed to their social importance. However, with modernization, these very traditional cultures and practices are increasingly at risk of extinction. Their associations with faith and religious practices have always been a boon for the conservation of plants and the entire ecosystem depends on it. India is a nation of rich cultural heritage, since ages, it has always emphasized the significance of plants in sacred texts and scriptures. Our ancestors linked divinity with several plants for their conservation and categorized them as sacred plants because of their miraculous medicinal properties. This situation reflects that though the knowledge of the medicinal value of the plants has vanished, it is still practiced in their religious culture. The study attempts to analyze both the religious and medicinal aspects of 21 plants on the basis of their analogous use across the subcontinent with respect to religions and shared beliefs which got incorporated in our culture because of their diverse benefits, making a divine way for the protection of nature and culture. This study shall stress the importance of ethnobotany and help in the constitution of realistic conservation strategies aiding sustainable development. The enlisted medicinal plants reveal ancient practices that have been scientifically accurate in terms of health and holistic lifestyle, promoting the sustainable use of plants for the betterment of the environment.

Recommended citation: Sahoo, RN., Kumar, S., Suryavanshi, A., Kain, D., Arya, A., Chaudhry, B. Venerated and medicinal aspects of plants used in India: An ethnobotanical review. J Drug Res Ayurvedic Sci 2021;6:128-40. DOI: 10.4103/jdras.jdras_15_21 /files/ethnobotany-review.pdf

Ethnopharmacological survey of indigenous medicinal plants of Palampur, Himachal Pradesh in north-western Himalaya, India Permalink

Published in Advances in Traditional Medicine, 2021

The ethnopharmacological investigation was done to study the traditional usage of indigenous medicinal plants of Palampur, Himachal Pradesh. Therefore, an extensive ethnopharmacological survey was conducted to document the traditional knowledge of ethnomedicinal plants. Direct interviews of 77 informants were conducted with the help of a questionnaire. Three quantitative factors (use value, factor informant consensus and fidelity level) were used for the analysis of generated data. A total of 102 species, belonging to 90 genera and 30 families were identified and collected with the help of traditional healers and local informants from different locations of the study area. Total 19 medicinal plants species were reported for new or less known ethnomedicinal uses. Also, 3 threatened wild plants species were collected from the study area. The maximum number of species belongs to the family Lamiaceae (7), Fabaceae (7), Asteraceae (6), Moraceae (4 species), Apocyanaceae (4 species) and Euphorbiaceae (3 species). Different plant parts were used by local informants such as leaves, galls, fruits, seeds, latex, stem, root, flowers, bark, and rhizomes. It was also observed that maximum numbers of plant species were used to cure gastro-intestinal disorders (48 species), skin disorders (34 species) and respiratory disorders (25 species). Ethnopharmacological data depict that medicinal plants were extensively used by local people to cure gastrointestinal, dermatological disorders and skeletomuscular disorders. Traditionally used medicinal plants have enormous potential to provide the raw material for the discovery of new bioactive compounds and drugs.

Recommended citation: Arya, A., Kumar, S., Paul, R., Suryavanshi, A., Kain, D., and Sahoo, RN. Ethnopharmacological survey of indigenous medicinal plants of Palampur, Himachal Pradesh in north-western Himalaya, India. ADV TRADIT MED (ADTM) 23, 169–212 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13596-021-00607-1 /files/ethnopharmacology-palampur.pdf